SAP LEAP / Gartner Magic Quadrant

Building a better future

In 2022, NTT DATA was named in the latest Gartner Magic Quadrant as a leader for SAP S/4 HANA Application Services. This is an important milestone, and one we are proud of achieving, so we think this is a good moment to look back on the long, successful collaborative relationship between our two companies.

The relationship between SAP and NTT DATA began more than 30 years ago. Being recognized as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant is just another step- an important one, for sure- in our mutually beneficial partnership. So what exactly does this mean to us at NTT DATA? And why should this matter to an increasing number of our clients?

The significance of S/4 HANA

SAP’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software was transformational right from the start for many thousands of enterprises. Organizations could move from separate applications for financial accounting, purchase to pay, order to cash, payroll and all the other essential requirements for managing a business, to a single integrated platform that provided one view of the truth across most enterprise applications.

Yet that was not the end of the story. Enterprises typically still maintained separate application suites to manage supply chains, customer relationships, compliance data and key internal functions. S/4 HANA is now changing that reality. Built on a single, integrated database, driven by real time data and optimized for hosting in the Cloud, S/4 HANA has the potential to be a real gamechanger. It is now driving agility, operational excellence and higher levels of sustainability across every aspect of an enterprise and its value chain.

With interchangeable, extensible modules and the ability to integrate with multiple applications and platforms, S/4 HANA enables enterprises to simplify their applications landscapes, gain more control over operations and accelerate development and go to market. This extra level of control and efficiency has never been more important, because we are all now living in challenging times.

A company ready to make an impact on the market

No matter what the industry, business leaders are telling us that supply chain issues are their biggest headache. There are plenty of factors driving these issues. For example, the after-effects of the Covid-19 lockdowns, congestion in ports and shipping routes, the start of “deglobalization” as countries around the world draw back from relying on China as their main manufacturing center.

Managing across complex ecosystem and value chain landscapes, with the ability to respond instantly to signals from the market, is critically important. That requires real-time data, advanced analytics and very low latency, high bandwidth connectivity. We provide exactly that kind of service to our clients by combining the unique power of S/4 HANA with NTT DATA’s leadership in cloud and intelligent networking. In addition, we have a portfolio of sustainability services with enormous scope to complement a joint offering that brings the greatest value to customers.

The emerging global marketplace is an exciting place but is also unpredictable, subject to rapid change, likely to evolve in unexpected ways and will require both operational agility and the ability to partner in flexible ways. There is no single “right solution” that provides all of these benefits, but S/4 HANA can provide the core capability needed to integrate enterprise capabilities across complex ecosystems.

That’s why the partnership between SAP and NTT DATA is both so strategically important and likely to deliver transformational change for enterprises worldwide, and in multiple industry sectors. NTT DATA is an acknowledged leader in building the intelligent, networked environments that will be essential for agile partnering in the future. By combining our networked cloud capability with the integration potential of S/4 HANA, we can together provide the robust yet agile and constantly evolving business platforms enterprises need to build profitable, sustainable futures.

The challenge of sustainability

That’s only part of the problem. The prices of energy and raw materials has rocketed, the war in Ukraine has caused uncertainty and negative sentiment, and we are all now much more aware of the need for better performance in sustainability. The environment has now become a top priority at boardroom level and in every industry, with sustainability now a key factor in everything from attracting finance to strengthening corporate brands to bringing the best talent into the business.

Under the new compliance regime adopted by the European Union and other major regulators, enterprises are not only responsible for their own carbon emissions (Scope 1) and those of their direct suppliers (Scope 2), but also for emissions across the entire supply chain (Scope 3). They will soon also be responsible for the emissions they avoid as a result of changed practices (Scope 4).

Enterprises now understand that reduced emissions can lead to lower costs and higher margins. This is not just a duty, in other words: it is potential win-win, leading to higher shareholder value, more loyal customers and a more productive, creative working environment.

A winning partnership

Being recognized as a Leader by Gartner is a significant moment for us, and it gives us confidence to extend and build on our highly focused joint marketing approach with SAP: the Large Enterprise Accelerator Program (LEAP). We created the program to make it as simple as possible to deliver customized, highly targeted engagements for large enterprises in multiple industry sectors.

By deploying a combination of S/4 HANA Applications Services, industry specializations, consulting capability and cloud/intelligent networking, we can collaborate with client companies to access precision-crafted solutions for their strategic requirements.

We at NTT DATA, we have had a deep and successful relationship with SAP for more than 30 years. Our combination of experience and expertise provides a unique source of value to large enterprises around the world. We look forward to a future of even greater achievement as our partnership deepens, evolves, and continues to develop. We are an SAP Global Partner with a presence in more than 50 countries, on every continent, and more than 19,000 SAP consultants ready to be a relevant transformational agent in any company.